Polymorphisms in the HFE gene.

Abstract

Hereditary hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by progressive iron overload. Recently, a candidate gene named HFE was isolated on the short arm of the chromosome 6 within which two mutations were identified: C282Y and H63D. To date, only homozygosity for the C282Y mutation is considered as a diagnostic criterion of hemochromatosis. 7.6% of the patients studied in our laboratory did not carry two copies of the C282Y mutation. On the other hand, a dysmetabolic iron overload syndrome has recently been described and the search for the C282Y and H63D mutations revealed that none of the patients was homozygous for C282Y while 67% exhibited one of the mutations. The possibility of a new mutation in the HFE gene has been raised to explain the disease in the remaining patients, as well as, in the few hemochromatotic patients without two copies of the C282Y mutation. The aim of this study was to search for new mutations in the HFE gene in 16 such patients. Direct sequencing of exons and 3 introns did not reveal any new mutation but identified a few polymorphisms.